News 3/29/23

Top News

HHS announces nearly $124 million in grant opportunities focused on helping clinics establish and manage Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, as well as on enhancing and supporting existing CCBHCs.

Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

People

InterMed (ME) promotes Wai-Houng Leung to CIO.

Raintree Systems names Vu Nguyen (BARBRI Global) chief product officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Healthcare Outcome Performance Company, a value-based orthopedic care organization, will leverage Luna’s in-home physical therapy technology and services as part of its new HOPco at Home program. HOPco will also integrate Luna’s technology into its recently acquired MSK.ai musculoskeletal platform.

Government and Politics

AHRQ adds physician practice files to its Physician and Physician Practice Research Database, offering insight into physician practice characteristics at the state level. The database is intended to “address supply-side policy questions and to support policy-relevant health services research.”

Other

The local paper digs into the factors influencing Maryland’s physician shortage and the resultant lack of timely, available appointments for patients. A few highlights:

• Maryland ranks highest in the nation for ER wait times, no doubt due to an increasing number of patients using the ER in place of primary and urgent care.
• Increased access to health coverage and health equity efforts have resulted in an increasing number of patients served by a decreasing number of clinicians.
• Primary care physicians are in shorter supply due to burnout, retirement, high patient loads, increasing practice costs, and a lack of up-and-coming PCPs.
• Nurses and nursing support staff are also part of the state’s healthcare labor shortage, a problem exacerbated by Maryland’s licensing bottleneck.

Sponsor Updates

• Nordic publishes a new episode of its In Network podcast.

• Censinet and KLAS Research recognize Nordic for achieving and sustaining its KLAS Cybersecurity Transparent designation.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 3/27/23

Top News

CVS Health is set to wrap up its acquisition of Signify Health later this week. Rumors of the deal first began to circulate last August, quickly followed by reports that Amazon was also interested in Signify, which provides analytics-enabled home healthcare services. Several weeks later, CVS formally announced its intent to acquire the company in a deal valued at $8 billion.

CVS Health expects to close its $10.6 billion acquisition of primary care provider Oak Street Health later this year.

Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

People

TigerConnect names Saurin Shah (Medallia) chief product officer and Scott Parsons (Pluralsight) chief sales officer. 

Announcements and Implementations

In Kansas, the Saline County Health Department will transition from paper-based documentation to Patagonia Health’s EHR.

New Mexico-based Satori Healing selects EHR software and RCM services from EClinicalWorks.

Other

Walgreens pharmacies and VillageMD primary care practices launch a pilot program in Florida and Texas that will help coordinate medications for mutual patients after they’ve been discharged from the hospital. The medication reconciliation process will be initiated once VillageMD providers receive notification that their patients have been discharged, presumably through the provider’s proprietary DocOS platform.

Sponsor Updates

• Potomac Urology achieves growth with EClinicalWorks EHR and Healow patient engagement solutions.
• Nordic releases a new episode of In Network’s Designing for Health podcast.

Blog Posts

• Medical Answering Services: Urgent Versus Non-Urgent Calls (PerfectServe)
• The impending crisis in healthcare: Lessons from SVB’s collapse (Nordic)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 3/22/23

Top News

Virtual women’s and family health provider Maven Clinic acquires London-based competitor Naytal for an undisclosed sum. Maven has raised $300 million since launching in, its most recent funding round a $90 million Series E last November. Founder and CEO Kate Ryder said at the time that, “We’re not putting this capital aside for a rainy day.”

Naytal founder and CEO Leila Thabet will join Maven as Regional Vice President, Global Growth and Partnerships.

Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present or promote your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

North Carolina-based Bionic Health will use $3 million in seed funding to further develop its membership-based “AI health clinic” for preventative care. Bionic offers lab and diagnostic testing, followed-up by AI-powered personalized insights based on those lab results and assessments. Co-founder Jared Pelo, MD developed “ambient documentation” company IScribes in 2016, which he then sold to Nuance in 2017. He became Nuance’s chief clinical product officer, overseeing its Dragon Ambient Experience app, and then jumped to a similar position at Microsoft when it acquired Nuance in early 2022. Nuance, meanwhile, will launch Dragon Ambient EXperience Express, which uses ChatGPT-4 to automatically generate clinical notes, this summer.

People

Rectangle Health names Sid Singh (Equifax) CEO.

Robin Peloquin (Omni Interactions) joins Carenet Health as VP for training and development.

Announcements and Implementations

First Step House selects Kipu Health’s EHR, RCM, and CRM software across its facilities in Utah and California.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 3/20/23

Top News

Allermi, a direct-to-consumer digital allergy care company, raises $3.5 million in seed funding. The startup plans to expand beyond the 28 states in which it is currently licensed.

Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Behavioral health IT vendor Infinity rebrands to SimiTree Behavioral Health. RCM, outsourcing, and professional services company SimiTree acquired Infinity last year.

People

Hinge Health names James Budge (Automation Anywhere) CFO.

Practice Pro promotes Tim Moore to CEO. He replaces founder Sanjay Patel, who will become chief product officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Sleep Matters, a sleep disorders clinic in Tennessee, implements EClinicalWorks.

Other

The New York Public Library will host free “Take Charge with MyChart” classes to help patrons learn how to find a new physician, access medical records and test results, schedule and/or attend a telemedicine appointment, and refill prescriptions using Mount Sinai’s Epic-powered MyChart software.

The Chicago Tribune profiles 88 year-old Glenn Bynum, MD a retired physician who has served as a ringside physician on the Golden Gloves boxing circuit for 55 years and counting. “Doc Bynum” has examined and cleared thousands of fighters over the years, including Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Sponsor Updates

• PerfectServe is accepting nominations for its Nurses of Note awards through April 14.

Blog Posts

• Driving Digital Transformation in Healthcare (Nordic)
• Can Healthcare Technology Beat Burnout? Not On Its Own. (PerfectServe)
• How to Improve Care for Spanish-Speaking Patients (Healthwise)
• 4 Ways AI-enabled RPM Helps Close Gaps in Patient Care (AdvancedMD)

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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News 3/15/23

Top News

OpenLoop Health, a white label telehealth company based in Iowa, raises $15 million in a Series A funding round. The company expanded its clinical expertise with the acquisition of Reliant.MD’s practice group earlier this year. Last month, it announced plans to expand its headquarters to accommodate over 100 new employees.

The funding coincides with the company’s launch of payer and RCM services.

Webinars

None scheduled soon. Previous webinars are on our YouTube channel. Contact Lorre to present your own.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Hopper Health launches to offer membership-based, virtual primary care services to adults living with autism, ADHD, OCD, dyslexia, and Tourette’s. Founder Katya Siddall-Cipolla is a former Army combat medic and Blue Cross Blue Shield VP. She named the company after Admiral Grace Hopper, a mathematician and one of the world’s first computer programmers.

People

Caleb Anderson (Netsmart) joins Athenahealth as chief sales officer.

Announcements and Implementations

Bristol Advanced Illness Management implements EHR, practice management, and RCM technology and services from EClinicalWorks across its facilities in nine states.

Government and Politics

The federal government charges former Wedgewood Physicians COO Francisco Ortiz and physician James Mersing, MD with allegedly stealing $650,000 from their former employer. Over a three-year period, Ortiz diverted funds for personal travel, home improvements, and Amazon orders. He also gave Mersing unauthorized bonuses, which Mersing then returned portions of as kickbacks.

Other

Google search results will soon highlight community healthcare facilities that offer free or low-cost care.

Good fun for a good cause: In Tennessee, the Chattanooga Medical Alliance will host MedRock: Battle of the (Physician) Bands on March 25. Proceeds from the event will fund college scholarships for high school seniors interested in pursuing healthcare-related careers. Attendees will have the chance to bid on a guitar played, signed, and donated by Peter Frampton.

Contacts

Jenn, Mr. H, Lorre

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